Esoteric Psychology II - Chapter I - The Egoic Ray - The Seven Laws of
Soul or Group Life

a. Some Questions on Service

Therefore, the
service rendered today is what it is because the response of men to these new Aquarian
influences is being registered at present in the astral body and is working out through
the solar plexus. This accounts for the emotional nature of most of the service rendered
in the world at this time; it is responsible for the hatred engendered by those who react
sensitively to suffering and who, because of their emotional identification with
suffering, lay the blame for the distressing conditions encountered upon a person or a
group of persons. It is responsible also for the generally unsatisfactory nature of much
of that which is now being done to relieve conditions. It is unsatisfactory from the
higher angle of the soul.

When, however, the service rendered is based upon a mental response to humanity's need,
then the whole problem is lifted out of the veil of illusion and out of the valley of the
world glamor. Then the impulses to serve are registered in the heart center and not in
the solar plexus, and when this is more generally the case, then we shall have a happier
and more successful demonstration of service.

In this Treatise I seek to be intensely practical, for this new science of service must
be based on right foundations and on sound understanding. Perhaps the simplest way in
which I can handle a theme so new and yet so hackneyed is by formulating certain questions
and then answering them as fully and as concisely as possible. [124]

How do we
define the word "service"?

What is the
field of this science and why do we call it a science?

What are the
characteristics of the true server?

What effect
does service have

On the mind?

On the emotions?

On the etheric body?

Does this
science prove that the seven key or ray types employ distinctive methods in their service?

The
consideration of these questions will enable me to do three things:

Show in my
answers to each question that service is not a sentiment or an ideal, but that it is an
effect and a scientific procedure at the same time.

Indicate the
need today for the right understanding of a technique which, when applied by the New Group
of World Servers, will lead humanity into the world of true meaning and of real values. I
will seek to show how the New Group of World Servers will work.

Give some
idea of how certain groups of the Masters of the Wisdom serve upon our planet at this
time.

In
answering these questions, we will proceed to take them one by one.